400,000 face wait for salaries

Tuesday 30 January 2007 00:03 BST

Up to 400,000 people are to find they have not been paid as expected because of a problem with an electronic banking system.

The Banks Automated Clearing System (Bacs), which processes financial transactions, has been running slowly and has not sent out all payments in time, the payments association Apacs warned on Thursday night.

Spokeswoman Sandra Quinn said affected workers should be paid by Monday.

She said any customers who were concerned should contact their bank immediately.

Banks are trying to ensure direct debits are paid as usual although the transactions can be refused if their payment takes an account overdrawn.

Ms Quinn said there was no pattern to the glitch and any company that had been affected by the problem should have informed its employees.

She added that employees would be refunded any charges if their accounts were overdrawn or if they breached their overdraft limit as a result of the problem.

She advised people who needed cash for the weekend to withdraw it over the counter, as cash machines could refuse the withdrawal.

She said: "The entire banking and payments industry is extremely sorry that this has happened and we are working to resolve the issue and limit the impact on individual customers."